Cumbria has been the game's forgotten frontier for much too long, but finally something significant could be stirring beneath the surface. Richard D Raaz, other­wise known as Dick, who commanded nuclear submarines for the US Navy during the Cold War and was a technical consultant on The Hunt for Red October, is the unlikely, exotic and splendidly larger than life new chairman of Whitehaven, who have the chance to pull clear at the top of the Co-operative Championship with victory in Saturday evening's home game against Toulouse.

"I'm pretty excited," said Raaz, who has become a familiar and noisy Havana-chewing presence in the tiny main stand at the Recreation Ground since arriving on the Cumbrian coast to run the nation's radioactive waste repository at Drigg in 2007. "I've been fascinated by rugby league since we took our proposal team on a catch-your-breath day two years ago. I'm a big fan of team sports and this is a real honest sport. I gotta tell you, the second game we had against Salford last season was the most exciting sports event I've ever attended in my life."

Whitehaven won that game 26-22 thanks to a stunning hat-trick on debut by Gregg McNally, then an 17-year-old schoolboy who plundered an astonishing 32 points from four tries and eight goals in the 52-26 win at Featherstone last Sunday that confirmed Haven as genuine rivals to Widnes and Halifax this season.

Raaz's major sporting passion had previously been for the Denver Broncos but last autumn he was approached by two consortia aiming to rescue Whitehaven from the financial problems that have undermined all their previous attempts to reach the promised land of the Super League.

"Part of my personal approach to life has been to get involved with the communities where I work," he explained. "That was what I did when I went around the world with the navy and I've continued since I retired to work in the commercial world in 1995. I've been preaching that since I came to Cumbria, so when I was approached to take on this task it would have seemed ridiculous to preach one thing and practise another."

Raaz is confident that in partnership with the local council, Copeland, the club can be run as a going concern, to prepare the ground for an application for a Super League licence when they are next made available in 2011. "I can't tell you the number of times I've been asked about that," he added. "I'm not bashful of saying I would certainly like to ensure the team is capable of that, although there are a whole plateful of things that need to be addressed in the approach."

The current feel-good factor in Cumbria is given further weight by the equally impressive form of Barrow, who are joint top of the Championship table with Haven after being promoted last season and also have an attractive Saturday evening home game against Halifax before they host Wigan in the fourth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup next weekend.

Harlequins play Hull in the only Saturday Super League fixture with Jamie O'Callaghan, an 18-year-old wing from Twickenham, called into the squad but both Luke Williamson and the captain Rob Purdham are missing.

Paul Cooke is set to return after four weeks out with a wrist injury in Hull KR's home game against struggling Salford on Sunday, with the Robins hoping that Cooke can provide the direction that was lacking in last weekend's defeat at previously winless Warrington.

The Wolves could have the Great Britain prop Garreth Carvell back from injury as they aim for another home win against the Celtic Crusaders, and high-flying Castleford face Bradford in an intriguing Yorkshire derby at the Jungle.